The Blessings of Christmas
by Kristen3
Summary: Sequel to "The Longest Night" by iloveromance. A simple morning spent with her husband and son makes Daphne realize how lucky she is. One-shot.


**Author's Note: **Thanks once again to Andrea (iloveromance), for writing the extremely melt-worthy story, "The Longest Night." I can never resist a chance for a David story, so a sequel started forming itself in my head almost immediately! I hope it lives up to the original!

Daphne awoke with a sigh. One would think she would be tired after what she and Niles had spent last night doing. But she had slept better than she had in months. No wonder, since they were alone in the house. But when she remembered that David wasn't at home, she immediately got up and began to get dressed.

"What are you doing?" Niles asked when he saw her hurriedly throwing on clothes.

"We need to go and get David."

Niles got out of bed and walked over to where she stood, taking her hands in his. "My love, our son is with Mrs. Woodson. He's perfectly fine, and I'm sure he's having the time of his life." Niles' secretary had adopted David as an unofficial grandson. She enjoyed spoiling him nearly as much as Martin did.

Daphne kissed her husband. "I know that, Darling. And I enjoyed getting to spend all last night in your arms. But I miss me little boy. Let's go and get him."

"But I thought we were going Christmas shopping. I re-arranged my patients."

"We will. I want to bring David with us. We can take him to see Santa at the mall. And you know he would love all the bright lights."

Niles' heart melted at the excitement on his wife's face. "All right, my love. If this is what you want."

Fifteen minutes later, they had retrieved their son, over Mrs. Woodson's repeated protests that she didn't mind looking after him while they shopped.

Once David was safely strapped into his car seat, Daphne got into the passenger's seat.

"So, to the mall now?" Niles asked as he put the car into drive.

Daphne thought for a moment. "Actually, can we go see your father first?"

Niles looked at her in confusion. "What for?"

"I should apologize for all those awful things I said to him yesterday. He's like me own dad." She paused. "He's better than me own dad, now that I think about it."

"All right, my love."

So, a few minutes later, the four adults (and David) were sitting in Martin and Ronee's living room. David played quietly with the massive collection of toys his grandfather kept for him.

"I'm so sorry I blew up at you yesterday, Martin." Daphne got up to kiss her father-in-law's cheek.

"Oh, Daph, you've got nothing to apologize for. I mean, you've got a lot more on your plate now than when you were just working for Frasier. I gotta tell you, I don't like the idea of breaking in a new therapist, but family comes first."

Daphne smiled at him, touched by his sentiment. "Actually, you may not have to. I had an idea this morning. You don't really need a therapist here every day. You just need someone to make sure you get yourself out of that bloody chair once in a while!"

"Daphne, what are you saying?" Ronee asked.

"Well, I was hoping you could help me," Daphne answered. "You and Martin could take Eddie down to the park, or just walk around the neighborhood." She and Ronee had gotten along pretty well since Ronee had joined the family, though they were not particularly close.

Ronee thought about it for a moment. "I think we could handle that, don't you, Marty?"

"Oh, no," Martin said in mock horror. "Don't tell me _you're_ going to start nagging me, too!"

Ronee laughed. "I won't be that bad, I promise. Think about it this way: you don't want to go and leave me a young widow, do you? Because I _have _had my share of offers!"

Marin rolled his eyes. "All right. If it means that much to you two."

Niles glanced over at David. "Dad, don't you want to be here to watch David grow up?"

Martin didn't even need to think before answering. "Of course." He'd always loved Frederick, but having David in Seattle was a totally new experience. He dreamed of taking his grandson to his first Mariners' game some day. But that would only happen if he lived long enough to do it.

Daphne felt lighter than she had in months. All of the stress she'd felt lately was suddenly gone. She felt the Christmas spirit, although she still had yet to buy a single present, or even decorate. But that would be easily solved.

"We're really going to the mall now, right?" Niles asked as they walked out to the car. He was glad for the change in Daphne's mood, but he was eager to start shopping. He'd already bought Daphne several presents, but he was nowhere close to being done.

"Yes," Daphne said. They got back in their vehicle. The ride to the mall lulled David to sleep in the backseat. Daphne smiled when she opened the door and saw her son. She kissed his cheek as she lifted him up. _This _was what motherhood was supposed to look like. Her recent stress had caused her to miss all these wonderful moments. Just as David was settled into his stroller, Niles walked around the car.

"Ready, my love?"

Daphne nodded. "David and I have quite a lot of gifts to buy. Would you mind if we split up?"

"Of course not," Niles replied, kissing her. Then he bent down to where David sat. He touched his sleeping son's cheek. "You take good care of your mommy, all right?"

Daphne's heart melted at his words. "I'll call you when we're ready to leave. Oh, and I was thinking we could have a home-cooked meal. We could make a salad, but I'll need some help chopping the vegetables." She smiled knowingly at him.

"It's a date." He kissed her deeply.

Daphne sighed to herself as her husband walked off toward one of the mall's entrances. This Christmas was sure to be special, because she knew she was blessed. She was especially grateful for the things that she knew she would never find under the tree. She made a promise to herself never to get so stressed out that she forgot how lucky she was.

**The End**


End file.
